Wednesday, November 23, 2011

The Book Addict Reviews: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon



Genre: Time Travel, Science Fiction, Historical
Order Online: Amazon.com
Author Info: Website | Goodreads
Rating: 4 stars
Borrowed this book from the library.

In A Nutshell:
I was not sure what to expect when I started it.  The size of the book and the amount of CDs in the case worried me--would I be able to keep it all straight?  Yes because Diana Gabaldon does a masterful job of creating the story and keeping it compelling and easy to follow.  I loved this book! 

Review:
I admit it--I judged Outlander by the cover; or more accurately I judged it by the size of its cover.  The book looked so huge and unwielding that I was afraid to start it.  But so many people kept recommending the book to me that I gave in.  And I am so glad that I did.

Diana Gabaldon has mastered the details.  Outlander is packed full of details about what people in 1743 Scotland ate, wore, practiced religion, traveled, interacted within the clan organization, practiced religion and even decorated their homes.  At every turn of the story, I felt like I was there in the story.

Diana Gabaldon has mastered characters.  My friends are starting to make fun of me because I have been talking about Jamie Fraser incessantly.  He was the kind of character that stuck with me.  I wanted to meet him--and I most definitely wanted to see him in his kilt!

But even more than that, I wanted to meet Gellie.  Since we hear Claire's story, we know a lot about her 1945 life and her 1743 life.  But Gellie is an intriguing mystery to me.  What did she leave behind in 1967?  Why didn't she try to return?  I wholeheartedly wish that Claire had seen the small pox vaccination scar earlier; early enough to have some long conversations with her.

Recommendations:
I already have the next book in the series and I cannot wait to start it and find out what happens to Claire, Jamie, and all the other characters that Diana Gabaldon created that I love:

2 comments:

  1. I'm glad you liked the book! I discovered it earlier this year, too and i agree with you - Gabaldon puts the reader right in the story. I'd like to know more about Gellis, too (why didn't Claire see that small-pox shot mark earlier - exactly what I thought). Great review!

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  2. Spoiler Alert!!

    @Pepca I was surprised that she did not see it in the scene where Gellie was getting ready for the party (the same scene where Gellie's husband found out about the baby). In my mind, in that scene Gellie was not leaving a lot to the imagination. :)

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